Sunday 3 word:

I had a hard time with the caption, it was back and forth between "Notice the hair?" and "Papaw is CRAZY!"

Avery was lucky enough to spend time with both sets of her grandparents this weekend so I will post soon with more pics.

Have a great holiday weekend!!!

2 months ago today.......

We held our daughter for the first time. She was a little scared, we were terrified but somehow we all got through it. Some days it feels like yesterday it was just me, Paul, and Rowdy hanging out together and some days it feels like Avery has always been with us. We have definitely had some "hiccups" finding our groove as a family but I always like to say "we haven't broken her yet!" Our lives have changed so much in these last 2 months and we wouldn't change it for the world.
Here is Little Miss Avery on Gotcha Day about 15 minutes after we first held her!!

and here she is today. Experiencing the pool for the first time!!

Avery,
Mommy and Daddy love you so much!! We can't imagine our lives without you. Even though the wait was alot longer than we expected we now know why: God knew that YOU were our daughter. You have taught us so much in the last 2 months about trust, patience, unconditional love, and the joys of parenthood. We love your sweet personality and your smiles can brighten even the hardest days. You truly are our pride and joy. We hope that we can always make you feel safe and secure and proud of us!! We love you baby!!!

Looks who's with his mommy & daddy.....

That's right Christie and Anton now have Quint in their arms. We are so excited for them!!!

He is quite a little cutie!!!!

Now hurry up and come home from Ethiopia so we can all give some hugs to the newest member of the posse!!

Update: thanks for the comment Eloise, I fixed the link. I guess that will teach me to blog with a 1 year old on my lap :)

A recap of Avery's past few days......

Here's our smiley girl before all the drama of the last few days.

Last week Avery had her first "non scheduled" visit to the pediatrician. She woke up one morning with what appeared to be a fever blister on her bottom lip. Being a paranoid first time mom I called the pedi's nurse and asked if kids her age usually got these. I was told that usually when 1 year olds got a fever blister it was in conjunction with some big illness or virus going through their system. Avery did not act like she had been feeling bad and she had not been running a fever. We went in and Dr B. checked her out and confirmed that yes, that is a fever blister developing. I have been trying to treat it with the prescribed cream these last few days but do not know how effective it has been. Have you ever tried to put cream on an active 1 year olds lip?? She will immediately lick it off or pull her bottom lip in to scrape it off with her teeth. Oh, the joys of motherhood!!!!

She is also in the process of cutting 3 new teeth simultaneously!!! 2 on the bottom and 1 on the top. Needless to say with the fever blister and the teeth she has not been feeling too well the last couple of days.

Here she is chilling out with her daddy watching the only TV show that holds her attention: Wonder Pets

We did go out to eat at the local Cracker Barrel and couldn't help but do a little shopping while we were there.
If you're gonna be a Texan, you have to wear a cowboy hat, right?

Is this hat supposed to be on straight??

Monday morning she had another appointment for her first immunizations as well as blood draw. This did not go well!! She wound up getting 3 different shots for immunizations plus after they tried to draw the blood out of her left arm the vein collapsed so they had to stick her again in the right arm to get enough blood to run tests. She was definitely not a "happy camper".

Here she is in the doctor's office not even remotely aware what is about to happen.

Hey, who are all these people and while are they bringing in all that stuff?

Showing off her dual purple bandaids from the blood draws.

Needless to say between the fever blister, the 3 new teeth, the immunizations, the blood draw and just being a typical 1 year old, she has been very clingy lately. She wants mommy to hold her constantly and will only go to daddy or anyone else if mommy is nowhere in sight. This makes for one very tired mommy!! I can't stand that she feels crappy but don't know what else to do to make her feel better. I am sure this is just the first of many times I will feel inadequate.

One of my biggest guilty pleasures has always been to grab a good book and soak in the bathtub for hours. This has definitely not happened since Avery came home however I am happy to report that my daughter also loves her bath. This is the one place she will play independently for a stretch of time and seem perfectly content. The next picture depicts our compromise after the last couple of days of constant holding.

Avery content in the bathtub and me with my book!! She's happy, I'm happy and my arms are getting a rest!!!

And last but certainly not least while downloading pictures tonight I found this self-portrait on my camera
Love ya babe, but I do think that goatee is getting a little grayer!!

So that's our week so far, Avery seemed like she felt a little better today so hopefully we are on the right track.

Thanks for checking in with us!!

Celebrating Mollianne's Birthday.

Saturday we were able to join Mollianne to help her celebrate her 5th birthday! What a great party it was. Erin did a fabulous job organizing and Bob was a master grill chef. This year they had both a bounce house and an inflatable slide (evidenced by the picture on the previous post). All the kids had a great time and the adults joined in as well.

Now on to the pictures of the event:

The birthday girl!!!!

Avery sporting her very first party hat!

The aftermath of the pic on my previous post. I had to con Kelley into trying out the slide and we were like 3 little kids!! I love my friends!!

After Erin, Kelley, and I went mom decided to give it a try too!! I am sure we probably exceeded the weight limit with all 4 of us at the same time but I am happy to report there were no collapses!!

The Uniqua pinata was a hit!!! A few pulls on the string and the candy started flying!!

Avery and her daddy in the bounce house. She wasn't quite sure what to think but she seemed to enjoy herself.

Mollianne sliding with her Gran and Pa. What great memories!!

Paul scored some major fun points with Mia. She was his constant companion that afternoon. Conning him into going down the slide multiple times!!

You can't tell she was having a great time, can you???

Avery getting ready to make her slide debut. She went down with both mommy and daddy but did not like it very much. I think she is more a bounce house kind of girl!

Thanks for letting us celebrate with you Mollianne!! We are so blessed to know you and see you grow up into a warm, beautiful, sincere young lady!!!

Sunday 3 word!

More to come later.....

Experimenting with hair......

America.....one BIGGGG party!!

I received a comment recently from Emily and Mia's Grammy stating that Avery was probably going to believe America was just one big party with all the running around and partying we have been doing. Now that I look back on our pictures from the last few weeks Grammy is probably right. We have been going what seems like non-stop since we have been home. Just in the last 9 days we have had 2 baby showers, 2 housewarmings, baby dedication, mother's day, several dinners with friends, 2 work visits, and a welcome home for Aubriana. WHEW!!!! Maybe that's why my blogging has been lacking the past week. Thankfully, our schedule is starting to slow down a little.

So now we will take a look at some of the events of our last week:

Me, Christie, and Erin at Christie's baby shower. Christie and Anton leave Saturday to travel to Ethiopia to adopt Quint!! Next Monday is their Gotcha Day!! We are so excited for them and can't wait to welcome the next little one into the posse.

My co-worker (and partner in crime)Keysla just purchased her first home. She had a huge backyard BBQ to celebrate the occasion and a great time was had by all. Here are Avery and I helping her to celebrate!! Congrats Keysla!!

The biggest event of last week was Aubriana's homecoming!! Wednesday we all trekked back to the airport to Welcome Home Valerie, Gary, and Aubriana. It was a different experience for Paul and I to be on the other side of the glass wall waiting for a newly enlarged family to arrive. Aubriana is an absolute doll and we are so blessed to have her and her family as our friends!!

Here she is making her Texas debut!!

Me and Val with our daughters. It's been a long road V.....can you believe we finally have them home?

Little Miss Avery has been becoming more mobile everyday. She still does not like to be on her tummy so we think she will probably skip crawling but with her walker she is definitely all over the house. She is also now getting to where she will try to walk when you are walking with her and she even moved herself around some of the furniture recently. She also has an activity center where she can go around in a circle and I swear sometimes you would think she is on a Nascar track with the rate she is moving!!

She found herself in a little predicament: she somehow maneuvered her walker under the table but then could not figure out how to duck her head to get back out!! Don't worry Mommy came to her rescue!!

After one of Kelby's baseball games he tried to entertain her on the tire swing. She was not very impressed.

She continues to eat anything you put near her mouth. Paul and I have naively been cutting all food in minuscule little bites and giving it to her. We went to dinner with Kathy and Bill Saturday and Kathy gave her this whole piece of quesadilla. Because Avery now has 2 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth she was able to bite and chomp down on the whole thing.

Avery's first quesadilla......Good Stuff!!!

Sunday, of course was my first Mother's Day!! Not only was it special in that regard but also because we had Avery dedicated at church that same day. The Lord had blessed us so much by allowing us to be parents to this beautiful little girl so it was fitting that on this my first Mother's Day we were also able to pledge to raise her in a Godly way.

Avery getting ready to make her big debut on stage!

Our children's pastor spoke first about the how children are a gift and how special they are.

Our senior pastor saying a prayer over Avery. Notice how Avery is "holding" the microphone too? She always wants to be in charge.

I can't say it enough.....she is so freakin' cute!!!!

My family......I am one very lucky mommy!!!!

After church we managed to snap a couple of pics of all the mini-posse members. It's very hard to believe that last year at this time Emily, Mollianne, and Mia were the only kids in the group and now look at all of these!! Soon to be expanded even more!!

Sandra was very happy to celebrate Mother's Day and a grandmother for the very first time!!


Sunday evening our family all went over to Chris and Danette's for a Mother's Day dinner. We are so blessed to have our family live close by and be able to see them frequently!

Avery playing with one of their puppies. She was not quite sure what to do with something so small.

We put some squeaky shoes on her for the first time and she loved "walking" all over the house just to hear them squeak!!

You know your country folk when your Mother's Day celebration also includes the kids showing you the snake they killed in the neighborhood the previous night.
Kelby holding up the "big catch"!!

OH.....I forgot to mention some of the most exciting news. We are officially booked for Avery's first trip to Walt Disney World. Those of you that know us in real life know that we are Disney theme park freaks. Prior to beginning the adoption journey we visited one of the parks every year. Well, after skipping 2006 and 2007......we are back!! October 2008 Avery will make her first (I am sure of many) trip to the Happiest Place on Earth!!

Thanks for checking in with us, hopefully I won't fall so far behind again anytime soon!!

Sunday 3 word.......

I know I am WAY behind on my blogging and I promise to catch you up on all the "going's on" around here in the next couple of days.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Sunday 3 word....

Just a little shout out for our girl Valerie, she's coming home Wednesday with the newest member of the M3 mini posse! Can't wait to see you V!!!

Birthday....Round 2

Thursday we went with Paul's parents, Tony, and Melinda to celebrate Avery's birthday. We spent several hours at the mall accomplishing even more firsts for Avery. We ended the evening with dinner and a birthday dessert complete with candle.



Paul spotted this and wanted it to be Avery's birthday present. Mommy quickly vetoed that idea. Maybe we will wait a couple of years for this one.

First carousel ride at the mall. She wasn't quite sure at first but she seemed to enjoy it.

Getting ready for the next big adventure...wonder what it could be!

Notice anything different in this picture????

Mimi and poppy anxiously waiting to celebrate Avery's birthday!

We like to call this her.....stop with the pictures and give me some food already!!!!

The big dessert!!! An awesome chocolate brownie complete with ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce!!

Daddy helping Avery blow out the candle.

Saving some for later!!!!

Avery's cutie patootie new outfit!!!

So even thought we went kind of low key for her birthday she definitely had a great couple of days!!

We are now officially parents of a one year old!!!!

Thanks for checking in!!!